So.. Here I am, at a smokey hostel in Tel Aviv. It's full of characters, to say the least. The first person I met was an annoying guy from Tucscon, AZ who is going to join the Israeli military, despite not speaking Hebrew. The second guy was a biochem PHD student from Argentina, living in Portugal, who is going to go to Gaza, if he can make it. He wants to help rebuild houses. Despite being so educated, it seemed like he had no idea of how to get in. The borders are sealed, even to aide workers lately (this guy wasn't even a part of an organization). He was asking the woman working at the hostel if he had to take a tunnel to get in.
So, here I am. Tomorrow I'm going to Ramallah to meet with someone regarding a position with Stopthewall(.org). At this checkpoint, apparently they won't search me or give me any trouble. If this job doesn't work out, I'm gonna go to Egypt.
Israel is. . interesting. There's a huge military presence. Every day I see more signs of it. Today, I saw what looked like a 747 being followed by drones or tiny planes. A few days ago I saw something looking like a star (during the daytime) over the West Bank, that I think was an observation satellite.
Birthright... It was a fun trip, but was really well engineered to get participants to support Israel. To be expected. (Free trip tho.) For example (there are many, many examples), we visited the main military cemetary, with the graves of heads of state and Theodor Herzl, right after visiting the Holocaust Museum. Current conflicts are constantly being put in the context of the Holocaust.
Questioning Israel or discussing the conflict was not an easy thing to do in the environment of my trip. In front of the Western (Wailing) Wall, I noticed that there are 2 huge trees that had been planted between the Wailing Wall and the Al Aqsa Mosque minaret. A asked a girl "Talya" if she thought that they had planted the trees there on purpose, so people coming to the wall wouldn't have to see the tower or hear the call to prayer. Then we had this strange 5 minute conversation, like dissadents have in totalitarian societies. 1 person would offer a small piece of information alluding to their political beleifs, then the other would go a little bit further. It was a weird interaction, but after we had an idea that we were like-minded, it was a great feeling, especially b/c at that point I hadn't encountered anyone questioning of Israel's foreign policy, just people considering joining the Israeli military, wanting Israel to "go in there and kick some ass," etc.
So, that's the deal.
I'll write more later. I'm being safe and cautious. Israel couldn't feel safer. We'll see about Palestine.
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